I Ran a 10k!

I did it! I finished the 10k! Let me tell you, it was a struggle. Also quite an impressive feat now that I’ve found out I had bronchitis when I ran. Whoops!

The week leading up to the race was a doozy. I got back from New Orleans Monday, took Tuesday off as a training day but had to catch up with work. I was going to run my last 3 miles before the race Wednesday morning, but when I woke up, I was beat. I decided to sleep in a bit and run later in the afternoon instead. When I did go out for my run I felt so sluggish. I was tired and was having issues with my socks and shoes. My pace ended up being decent but dear lord I felt dead walking when I got back home. Not more than a few hours later did the sore throat pop up. Dun Dun Dunnnn

Cut to, I got sick. :( It started as a sore throat and extreme tiredness, that turned into general lethargy and a cough. I was exhausted for two days. On Friday I mentally decided I was well enough to go on a walk, on Saturday I realized that was a mistake and ended up sleeping the whole day.

As the race drew nearer, I kept telling myself being sick is a mental game. I told myself, you will be running in that race, and you will be healthy to do it. So I did.

I woke up the morning of the race after not sleeping well or much at all but wasn’t coughing and felt fine enough. The temperature was a bit chilly and overcast so I ended up wearing leggings and a tank top to run in. That was a choice I regretted as it was surprisingly humid out and the overcast skies turned sunny after one mile in. I would have done better in shorts. Alas.

Luckily the race was essentially down the street so was super easy to get to. I did bring a change of clothes, thank gosh, so I ended up doing bag check. Which was also super easy. I did a quick lap to loosen up and then we were off!

Honestly, I felt so good the first mile. I didn’t even realize the mile was over until we hit the mile marker… normally I think I’m 3 miles in before I’m even halfway through one mile. So, I was feeling pretty good through mile 1 and most of mile 2. My mistake came when I stopped for water just before mile 2. I’m not sure why they had water before the second mile marker, but they did, and I told myself I’d stop for all the water stops. I think that hurt my momentum because when I started back up again, I really started to notice how slow my legs were moving.

I felt like I was running through water from miles 2 to miles 3. I just could not shake the heaviness. Obviously, I later found out that heaviness was illness, hindsight is 20-20 after all. There was another water stop in between mile 3 and 4 where I was able to catch my give myself a breather. I picked my pace back up with mile 4, but mile 5, man I hit a wall. It was my slowest pace. I think it was part because I was tired, but also because my music during that bit was just not hitting. I had a few good bops through mile 4 that motivated me but my music during mile 5 was not giving me that momentum I needed.

Once I hit the 5-mile mark I knew I only had 1.3 to go. Meaning only a handful of songs left. I kept telling myself run through this song then you can stop but the songs that came on were so long and were just not doing it for me, so I ended up walking a ton that last mile. I also really thought I was much farther along in mile 5 than I was so the last mile was a struggle.

I do really think it’s the last .3 that gets you. As I came upon the back half of mile 6 I just kept thinking you’re almost there just a few more songs. Counting down songs helps me clock where I’m at in relation to a mile or the finish. But the songs kept ending and I wasn’t anywhere closer to the end. I had thought I hit 6 miles but didn’t see the mile marker so I assumed they didn’t have the mile 6 since it was so close to the finish line. NOPE. I was 2 songs away from the 6 mile mark. Then had to get .3 more miles until I passed the finish line.

And the finish line I did pass at 10’43”. It was not my best time, but I finished. Honestly, it was the worst I’ve ever felt after finishing a race. WHICH is CRAZY since I TRAINED for the race. But, as I have now found out, I had bronchitis so that explains a lot of things.

I’m finally just getting over being sick, but after the race I went to brunch and was just feeling so-so. When I got back to my place, I had to take a nap before I could even shower, I was so weak. Which is not like me at all post races. I ended up sleeping most of the day Sunday and most of Monday… with lots of coughing in between. Today is really the first day I’m feeling somewhat better. FInally!

Overall I’m happy I finished, but disappointed I wasn’t at 100% health. In prep for the half marathon I definitely need to create a better post run plan.

Now that the 10k is done, I’ll take a little break from running until end of July. I’m going to do a few more blogs on this race detailing what I wore, how I recovered, what I listened to and how I will train differently for next time. But for now the race is over and I can say I finished!